


Small kindness

by FaiaHae



Series: Coffee Shop AU Prompt Fills [5]
Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast), The Adventure Zone: Amnesty (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Barclay might be bigfoot, I'm a vague person, M/M, Stern is still in the FBI
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-01
Updated: 2019-04-01
Packaged: 2019-12-30 14:00:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 541
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18316676
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FaiaHae/pseuds/FaiaHae
Summary: Stern had- if he was putting it charitably- had a bad day.Working for the FBI was his dream job, and he kept reminding himself of that when things went wrong, when he got treated badly, when people questioned his credentials, when he got assigned to an unexplained phenomena division that apparently had no one who actually believed in cryptids. He felt like screaming or crying, and he wasn’t sure which was going to win.Well, he wasn’t sure till he got to the only coffee shop open after 11 to find out that they closed at 1am, and that it was 1:02.Crying.Crying won.





	Small kindness

 

Barclay really, really wanted to go home, and so he’d maybe gotten a little snappy at the suit who’d come barging in two minutes after close and tried to bribe him into staying open long enough to make him a latte. 

 

But he  _ really _ hadn’t expected the man start  _ crying _ . 

 

“I’m- I’m sorry, I just-” The man was  _ blubbering _ , and Barclay’s chest twisted. He took a deep breath, trying to work up the nerve to tell the man to leave, but then he took off his glasses, and Barclay realized he  _ knew _ this guy. He came in at about 7pm, was nice to whoever was on register, left a tip. One day he’d come in with a messenger bag positively  _ covered _ in pins- aliens, rainbows, pride flags. Barclay hadn’t talked to him before, but....

 

Barclay sighed, pulling out his phone and texting Dani that he was going to be home late.

 

“Look, I can’t....I can’t make you a latte, I already turned off the machine. But do you want a cup of coffee? I’m just gonna pour it out. Just...sit down a minute.”

 

The man sat, looking stunned, and Barclay kept his objections internal as he switched off the exterior lights and locked the door, going back behind the counter and pulling down a battered white for-here mug and filled it with coffee. He tried to remember what-....Stern? That seemed like the name usually scrawled on the cup. Stern. French Vanilla latte. He checked the expiration dates on the syrups, grabbed the vanilla he was going to bring home to Dani, poured it into the bottom of the cup, repeated for the milks and then poured coffee over it. The steamer was off, this was the best he was getting. 

 

To Barclay’s utter  _ shock _ , Stern started crying again when he took the cup.

  
“I- I’m sorry I couldn’t-”

  
“No, no it’s just-” Stern took a sip, his hands shaking a little. 

 

“I’m sorry, you just- remembered. I can’t stand the bitterness and at the office they kept replacing my coffee with unsweetened cups to fuck with me and I just-”

 

“What the  _ fuck? _ ” Stern flinched, sloshing coffee on himself, and Barclay winced apologetically, pulling napkins out of his apron.

  
“Sorry, your coworkers sound like dicks. That’s really cruel.”

 

Stern shrugged, taking another sip of his coffee.

 

“Not even the worst they’ve done today.”

 

Barclay huffed. He wasn’t usually temperamental, but he really hated bullies.

 

“Well, give me a list of names and headshots so that i can ruin their coffee and misspell their names if they come in here. I...I gotta get cleaning, but you can talk about it if you want? You can stay until i’m done, if you want.”

 

Stern did stay, telling him about the office and the passive aggressive bullshit of his job, and at the end of the evening Barclay went home with a cute guy’s phone number and a  _ vendetta, _ and when one  _ Sarah Richmond  _ ordered black coffee the next evening, She got mango syrup in her cup, and he’d spelled it  _ Sah Bichmond. _

 

She hadn’t figured it out till she’d gotten to the office, and Stern had sent him 20 text messages with pictures of coffee soaked files.

 

Worth it. 


End file.
